856.001W64/53⅗: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:08 p.m.]
1372. The Dutch Foreign Minister called to see me this morning. He again expressed Queen Wilhelmina’s deep gratitude for the President’s wire. He wanted to point out to me that the Queen was here with her entire Government and she proposed, of course, to carry on as long as it was possible to do so. She realized that if she were to go to America, she could not carry on her Government. Therefore, she supposed she must go to Canada.
However, the question of leaving England is causing great worry. The Foreign Minister is unable to make the British Government believe that they are faced with a critical situation, if this battle in France goes badly. He said that the Germans have furnished a new surprise in every country they have gone into and make no mistake they are storing up something terrible for England. He said when he inquired as to just what troops were going to face a possible [Page 206] German invasion of some kind, he found out that there are very few seasoned troops; the rest are territorials. He said to imagine these people fighting this avalanche of Germans is perfectly ridiculous. He said they landed tremendous numbers of soldiers from transports on football fields or any place; they landed 10½-inch howitzers and trench mortars from these transports and instantly set up substantial defensive and offensive units. With his own eyes, he saw parachutists disguised in Dutch and other disguises.
He said they have very secretly two Dutch warships, one quite fast and one stronger, armed but not quite so fast, waiting at Falmouth, but they feel that as they are guests here they cannot move their Government from London until the British move and the British, because of their pride, refuse to take any action on the possibility of a quick exit. He said pride stops them from recognizing the truth and they see the whole picture in the wrong light. He still has some gold here but a very small proportion. He frankly is worried that England does not recognize what it is going to be up against, will only realize when it is impossible to take any constructive action.